


Sharing a Tent

by Dandy



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 00:13:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16843258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dandy/pseuds/Dandy
Summary: Following Rei's foolhardy attempt at night swimming, he's having some trouble sleeping. Good thing he has Makoto here to help.





	Sharing a Tent

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to tumblr on June 2, 2015 as part of ReixSenpai Week. The prompt was "Am I a bother...?"

Though they’d all been tired from the harrowing night before, Makoto felt like the second day of their training camp had been mostly productive. They’d gotten through most of their scheduled regimen, eaten a hearty meal, and were all ready to go to bed almost immediately after dinner. As before, Nagisa dragged Haru off to their tent, though he looked considerably sleepier than the night before, and Makoto had a feeling they would be both be asleep within minutes. That left him and Rei, who was already crawling into their tent, a pensive expression on his face.

Makoto followed after, crawling into the tent and looking around for his shirt to sleep in. Once he found it, he looked up, to see Rei fiddling with his glasses apprehensively.

“Ready for bed, Rei?”

“Um, Makoto-senpai,” Rei began, taking his glasses off to clean, though Makoto had a feeling it was so Rei had somewhere to look other than Makoto’s face. “I wanted to say… I really _am_ sorry for what happened last night.” The glasses trembled along with his hands. “And I understand if you don’t want to- 

“Rei.”

The gentle touch of Makoto’s hand on Rei’s wrist caught his attention better than the sound of his name did. Makoto was smiling, soft, warm, open.

“It’s over, Rei. Everyone’s safe.”

Rei stared at him a moment, then swallowed hard and managed a tiny smile back. “I know. I suppose I just… haven’t gotten past it yet.”

Makoto nodded, his hand still on Rei’s wrist. “It’s fine. But forgive yourself, alright, Rei?”

“I’ll try to,” said Rei, and the look he gives Makoto is one of unending gratitude. Makoto isn’t sure he likes being looked at that way – he didn’t do anything, after all.

“Good. Now let’s go to sleep, alright, Rei?”

Rei nodded, then looked down. Makoto was still touching his wrist.

Makoto pulled his hand back, wondering if that was too much. Rei seemed to relax once the touch was gone, and they both got changed for bed.

* * *

Makoto was woken by rustling on his sleeping bed. He didn’t open his eyes, still groggy, and wondered what it was. Probably one of the twins – they still crawled in bed with him when they had nightmares.

Whichever one it was, they were whimpering softly in their sleep, getting closer and closer to Makoto. Still without opening his eyes, Makoto reached out instinctively, pulling whoever it was to his chest and wrapping his arm around them.

It was then that he realized the person was too big to be one of the twins.

Finally opening his eyes, Makoto realized who he had was Rei. His tired brain pieced it all together: the training camp, sharing a tent with Rei, the night before, the rain lightly pattering against the tent-

Ah.

No wonder Rei had sounded so distressed. He’d been having a nightmare.

Leaning up a little, Makoto looked down at him. Rei had calmed down since Makoto had started holding him, sleeping peacefully against his chest. He looked serene like that, and he gripped Makoto’s shirt with one hand, as though to anchor himself there.

Makoto couldn’t help but smooth back his hair fondly and pull him closer. “Sweet dreams, Rei.”

* * *

When Makoto woke up, Rei was already up and getting dressed. Makoto watched him for a moment, before saying, “Good morning, Rei. 

“Ah!” Rei jumped, fumbling with the button of his shorts. He looked over at Makoto, face almost immediately coloring.

“What’s wrong?” asked Makoto, tilting his head, and Rei blushed.

“N-nothing, nothing is wrong, what would make you think something is wrong?”

He stood up so fast he almost collided with the top of the tent. Still blushing, he said, “Ah, I- er, I- I usually run in the morning so if you’ll excuse me, I’m… jogging. Yes.”

And then he disappeared out of the tent. Makoto could hear his footfalls in the sand as he disappeared down the beach.

Makoto blinked in confusion at the still open tent flap, then sighed and reached around for his swimsuit. Maybe holding him was a bit too much?

* * *

The rest of the day passed like the ones before, and, barring a few awkward looks and moments of blushing from Rei, everything was normal. But even though Makoto knew he shouldn’t make things more awkward for Rei, he couldn’t help looking at him every now and then. Makoto wasn’t sure what, but something felt a little different between them now. At the very least, Makoto wanted to keep an eye on him, make sure he was okay. 

So he would look, and he would smile, and Rei would blush and look away and return to talking to Nagisa or focusing on his kicks.

At the end of the day, they separated into their tents as before. After saying goodnight to Nagisa and Haruka, Makoto crawled into his and Rei’s tent and again found him looking down at his hands, afraid of meeting Makoto’s eyes.

“Rei?”

“Ah- Makoto-senpai!” Rei jumped like he had that morning, adjusting his glasses to hide the blush on his face. He didn’t continue, though he seemed nervous. “I, um… wanted to talk to you about last night.”

“Ah.” Makoto looked down, suddenly feeling ashamed of himself. “I thought you were having a nightmare, and I just wanted to comfort you. But if that was too forward, then I’ll keep space between us tonight. Or if you want me to go to the other tent-“

“N-no! Makoto-senpai, it’s… it’s not that, I…” Rei cleared his throat, still fiddling with his glasses. “I _was_ having a nightmare. And what you did last night made it go away. So, I… if it’s not too much trouble, could you…”

He trailed off, looking bashful, but Makoto couldn’t hide his smile.

“You want me to do it again?”

Rei nodded, adding, “If it doesn’t bother you.”

“It doesn’t!” Rei raised his head to look at Makoto after the outburst, and Makoto blushed himself now. “You’re no bother to me, Rei. And I want to help you, if I can.”

He smiled, and Rei smiled back. Makoto reached out his arms to him, and Rei came to him, with a cautious eagerness.

Soon they were both settled into Makoto’s sleeping bag, Rei curled once again against Makoto’s chest. Makoto ran a hand gently through Rei’s hair, and he sighed in contentment. After a moment, he wrapped his own arm around Makoto, who couldn’t help but blush again.

After a few minutes laying in the silence, listening to each other’s breathing and feeling each other’s just barely off-tempo heartbeats, Rei spoke up again.

“Thank you for doing this for me, senpai.”

“It’s no trouble, Rei. I think I slept better like this, as well.”

“It’s all very illogical, but… I feel very comfortable like this, with you.” His face creased as he frowned in contemplation, and though it was dark, Makoto could still see it. For some reason, the expression made Makoto blush again. His heart sped up. “I don’t know what it means.”

Makoto was beginning to think he did.

“You’ll have time to figure it out, Rei.” He ran a hand through Rei’s hair again, listening as a rumble of thunder came from somewhere off the coast. “For now, try to rest.”

“…Alright, Makoto-senpai. Thank you again.”

“You don’t have to thank me so much,” Makoto said with a chuckle. He gently stroked Rei’s hair, waiting for the younger boy to fall asleep, then pressed the lightest of kisses to his crown.

“Goodnight, Rei.”


End file.
